BackMotorola’s handset biz buy talks: early days, says Dhoot
Motorola’s handset biz buy talks: early days, says Dhoot
PremiumVideocon Industries chairman Venugopal N. Dhoot
New Delhi/Bangalore: India’s largest consumer electronics maker Videocon Industries Ltd said on Friday its talks to buy the mobile handset business of US-based Motorola Inc. are at initial stages. “The talks with Motorola are at a very initial stage," Venugopal N. Dhoot, chairman of the Aurangabad, Maharashtra-based company, told an industry seminar here, but declined to give a deadline for the deal.
Videocon wants to buy Motorola’s handsets because it will supplement the telecom services operations the electronics firm will start soon. The company, which has got a licence to roll out mobile telephony service all over India through its subsidiary Datacom Solutions Pvt. Ltd, has already been allotted radio spectrum in three telecom circles.
The firm has said it will start its telecom services from August and plans to garner about 10% of the market in five years.
The company is also ambitious about 3G services. “With our technical tie-up with various companies, it would be very easy for us to roll out 3G also as soon as the government announces (its decision)," Dhoot said.
The company also said it is studying the viability of a bid for General Electric Co.’s appliances unit.
“As of now there’s nothing in it other than just a study," Dhoot said. “There aren’t any developments right now."
Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric put its appliance division that makes refrigerators and washing machines up for sale earlier this month.
(Harichandan Arakali of Bloomberg contributed to this story).
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